1.) Drink wine out of good glasses.
2.) Never fill them more than a third of the way.
Which doesn’t mean you need to buy expensive crystal, or even “ISO” or Riedel “Gourmet” tasting glasses. Believe it or not, I’d rather drink Robert Ampeau’s incredible Volnay-Santenots 1976 out of a cheap, eight-ounce Libbey’s “Citation” all-purpose clunker with the patented safety lip, than out of the beautiful hand-cut red wine goblet from the traditional Waterford “Lismore” collection.

The Libbeys glass is a better glass than the Waterford goblet, and that’s not a matter of arguable opinion. It’s a matter of chemistry, aerodynamics, and physiology, which unlike arguable opinion deal with properties of the real world. What makes a good glass is its shape, not its cost.

Keep in mind that learning the mechanics of good wine tasting technique, and acquiring the habit of good wine drinking technique, aren’t all you need to do if you want to become a good taster.

Good glasses have sides that curve inward towards the opening. They contain and protect a volume of air above the surface of the wine, where aromas accumulate; and keep it in the glass. Straight-sided, flared glasses like the Waterford “Lismore” goblet actually encourage turbulence, which forcefully pulls aromatics away from the surface and out of the glass, every time you move it. They make the wine taste watered down, compared with the same wine in a good glass.

Of course, no glass will serve its purpose if it’s overfilled. If there’s no air space at all above the surface of the wine in your glass, you won’t be able to smell it at all. So when you pour wine, leave plenty of room for your nose. Think of the way you eat bread at dinner. You break off and butter a little at a time. Filling wine-glasses to the top (which I guess people habitually do because its easier than pouring several times) isn’t unlike like slathering a whole baguette with a stick of butter and eating it like a hoagie.

Keep in mind that learning the mechanics of good wine tasting technique, and acquiring the habit of good wine drinking technique, aren’t all you need to do if you want to become a good taster. You need to apply the discipline of good tasting technique consistently, especially when tasting wines that you expect you won’t like.

The single most difficult obstacle to learning will be the urge to react to an unfamiliar wine with “I like it” or “I don’t like it,” before you’ve made an effort to taste it carefully, without prejudice. Only experience with a wide variety of wines will help you overcome it.

Posted by Greg Moore